WJPA Sports

The baseball regular season ends Tuesday with plenty of playoff decisions still to be made. Avella, Bentworth and Canon-McMillan are the only teams from Washington/Greene Counties that do not have section games left to play. The Eagles and Big Macs have clinched playoff spots. The Bearcats are out of the race. We will carry as many impact games Monday/Tuesday as possible. Every softball game involving teams from the two-county area with bearing on the playoffs are in the books already. Here’s a rundown of the softball/baseball playoff picture for all 19 schools in the two-county area.

Baseball
Playoffs berth clinched (6 teams):
6A Canon-McMillan (share of section championship)
3A Charleroi
2A Burgettstown, California, Fort Cherry (section champion)
1A Avella
Eliminated:
Bentworth (2A), Beth-Center (2A), Mapletown (1A), West Greene (1A)
Alive (9 teams):
Carmichaels (1A)-clinch with one win vs. West Greene or with a Jeannette loss to Jeff-Morgan
Chartiers-Houston (2A)-clinch with a win vs. California or a Frazier loss to Beth-Center
Jeff-Morgan (1A)-clinch with a win vs. Jeannette or with a Carmichaels loss to West Greene
McGuffey (3A)-clinch with two wins vs. Seton-La Salle + one loss by either Keystone Oaks (Wash High) or Waynesburg (Charleroi), or with one win + two losses by Waynesburg AND Keystone Oaks.
Peters Township (5A)-clinch with two wins vs. South Fayette + one Upper St. Clair loss (Chartiers Valley), or with one win + two USC losses + one Trinity loss (Moon)
Ringgold (4A)-clinch with one win vs. Laurel Highlands or with a Uniontown loss to Elizabeth-Forward.
Trinity (5A)-clinch with two wins vs. Moon + one Upper St. Clair loss (Chartiers Valley), or with one win + two USC losses + one Peters Township loss (South Fayette).
Wash High (3A)-clinch with two wins vs. Keystone Oaks, or with one win + two Waynesburg losses (Charleroi) + one McGuffey loss (Seton-La Salle)
Waynesburg (3A)-clinch with a win vs. Charleroi, or with losses by Wash High (Keystone Oaks) & McGuffey (Seton-La Salle)

Softball
Playoff berth clinched (12 teams)
6A Canon-McMillan
5A Trinity
3A Charleroi, McGuffey
2A Chartiers-Houston (section champion), Burgettstown,  Bentworth (section champion), Wash High
1A Beth-Center, Carmichaels (section champion), Jeff-Morgan, West Greene
Eliminated:
Avella (1A), California (2A), Fort Cherry (2A), Mapletown (1A), Peters Township 5A), Ringgold (4A), Waynesburg (2A)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — JJ Wetherholt led off with a home run against Pirates ace Paul Skenes, and the St. Louis beat Pittsburgh 10-5 to complete a four-game sweep. Skenes fell to 0-5 against the Cardinals after allowing five runs, four earned in five innings. The reigning NL Cy Young winner’s brilliant April ends with a rare dud as Pittsburgh’s losing streak hit five. Alec Burleson had three hits and drove in three runs for the Cardinals, who took a four-game series from Pittsburgh for the first time since 2019. Bryan Reynolds had two hits and drove in three runs for the Pirates.

LIV Golf has a new chairman and a new strategy to move forward after Saudi Arabian funding ends after this year. That Saudi funding is what allowed the rival league to launch four years ago by offering nine-figure contracts to top stars and $30 million prize funds. Yasir Al-Rumayyan is no longer chairman of LIV Golf. He’s the Public Investment Fund governor who was behind the creation of LIV Golf. The league is turning to Gene Davis and Jon Zinman to lead the new direction. The development comes during a week when LIV Golf postponed next month’s even in New Orleans.